It would appear that any cracks that may exist in the Kevin Durant/Russell Westbrook relationship are not going to result in Russ leaving town any time soon. Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski is reporting that the Oklahoma City Thunder signed Russell to a five-year, $80 million contract extension last night.
Some specifics on the deal from Woj:
Under the new collective bargaining agreement, Westbrook could’ve been eligible for a maximum deal worth 30 percent of the Thunder’s salary cap next season. To do so, he needed to satisfy requirements that included him being named to the All-NBA team twice in four years. Nevertheless, Westbrook gets an extension that pays him 25 percent of the Thunder’s cap and preserves space that allows the franchise to construct future deals for James Harden and Serge Ibaka.
That 25 percent compared to 30 percent is kind of a big deal. With alpha dog issues already in play, who knows what that would have done to chemistry.
Here is Woj’s full post.
Were the Thunder right to give Westbrook an extension or should they have looked to move him for Rajon Rondo or another elite PG?
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